Without a ticket to tonight’s Texas A&M annihilation?
Don’t want to watch yet another whack reality TV show, say, I’m a Celebrity — Get Me Out of Here?
Too cold to drink?
(Ok so that last one is never applicable).
Then take the 90-minute march west to Manhattan.
Yeah, yeah, it’s Manhattan. And, yes, you’ll have to watch women’s basketball.
But I promise: You’ll witness three of the finest local players to play the game at the collegiate level.
And, not all of them will be wearing their home whites.
If you’re a female round ball fan in this state, and you don’t know about Kansas State’s potential All-American candidates Nicole Ohlde and Kendra Wecker, what’s your problem?
They’re phenomenal. At times this season, the best two players in America both were wearing purple.
And both come from small, Kansas towns. Ohlde is from Clay Center and Wecker made her athletic mark in Marysville. She’s also a track superstar.
What about Moundridge-product Laurie Koehn you ask?
Koehn is K-State’s top three-point shooter, and some proud Powercats might even argue top player, but the standout has missed seven straight games.
If Koehn does comeback tonight, hands down, K-State has the top trio of thrillers on the court.
But when she’ll return is anyone’s guess, thus opening the spot for another player not wearing purple warm-ups.
Enter Jayhawk Tamara Ransburg.
The 6-foot-4 freshman, isn’t Kansas’ top scorer.
Topeka freshman Crystal Kemp has that honor, as her 10.9 points per game is a sliver more than Ransburg’s 10.8 points per game.
But the athletic Ransburg, who’s hails from Kansas City, Mo., is ready to become a premier player in the Big 12 Conference, if not the country.
“When you look at her, and see how she is coming along, you know it will be a lot of fun to see her out on the court for the next three years,” said Kansas coach Marian Washington.
One doesn’t have to look far to see how Ransburg’s game has evolved.
Despite Kansas suffering its 10th loss in 13 conference attempts Saturday against Baylor, Ransburg scored a career-high 23 points.
Ransburg, who is Kansas’ leading rebounder, needed one more rebound against the Bears to record her third straight double-double.
Lately, Ransburg seems to be a shadow of the player that spent far too much time early in the season on the bench in foul trouble.
“Tay’s only going to get better,” Washington said Saturday. “She’s a lot smarter with shots that she goes after. She likes to be aggressive, but I think she’s smarter.”
Even if Ransburg’s numbers don’t accumulate tonight like they did the last time she faced the Wildcats. She tallied 13 points, 10 rebounds and had a solid effort against K-State’s Ohlde and Wecker in Kansas’ 88-49 Big 12 opening-loss at Allen Fieldhouse in January. Ransburg has hardly began her run at possible Big 12 reign.
“I love to play against them,” Ransburg said of facing the Wildcats. “Their team makes me play better.”
If that’s the case, the best player on the court tonight might just be wearing crimson and blue.
